Wednesday, February 8, 2012

(YDR) - Students at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania can get the "morning-after" pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine, an idea that has drawn the attention of federal authorities and raised questions about how accessible emergency contraception should be.

The student health center at Shippensburg, a secluded public institution of 8,300 students tucked between mountain ridges in the Cumberland Valley, provides the Plan B One Step emergency contraceptive in the vending machine along with condoms, decongestants and pregnancy tests. Stay classy, people.

"I think it's great that the school is giving us this option," junior Chelsea Wehking said Tuesday. "I've heard some kids say they'd be too embarrassed" to go into town - Shippensburg, permanent population about 6,000 - and buy Plan B. Federal law makes the pill available without a prescription to anyone 17 or older, and the school checked records and found that all current students are that age or older, a spokesman said.

It doesn't appear that any other vending machine in the U.S. dispenses the contraceptive, which can prevent pregnancy if taken soon after sexual intercourse. The machine has been in place for about two years, and its existence wasn't widely known until recent news reports.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is contacting state authorities and the university to gather facts, agency spokeswoman Stephanie Yao said Tuesday. Consumers have long been able to insert a few coins for the likes of aspirin, ibuprofen, antacids and other common over-the-counter remedies. But some experts see a worrisome trend in making drugs like Plan B, which is kept behind the pharmacy counter, available in a vending machine. Alexandra Stern, a professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan, said she wasn't questioning a woman's right to have access to Plan B, but whether making it so easily available is a good idea. Not a risk-free option (see here).

"Perhaps it is personalized medicine taken too far," she said. "It's part of the general trend that drugs are available for consumers without interface with a pharmacist or doctors. This trend has serious pitfalls."

Taking Plan B within 72 hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. It works best if taken within 24 hours. Some religious conservatives consider the emergency contraceptive tantamount to an abortion drug. The idea for a vending machine started at Shippensburg after a survey about health center services several years ago.

Eighty-five percent of the respondents supported making Plan B available, school spokesman Peter Gigliotti said. The student government endorsed the idea. Argumentum ad populum - a proven way to make important decisions. The machine is in the school's Etter Health Center, which only students and university employees can access, Gigliotti said in a statement.

In addition, "no one can walk in off the street and go into the health center," he said; students must check in at a lobby desk before being allowed in.

Matthew Kanzler, a senior at Shippensburg, said a lot of students at the school weren't even aware of the vending machine until recently. Most students do support the idea, he said - but not all. "It's a way for students to get the help or care they need," he said, adding that students appreciate the on-campus health care because the school, about 130 miles from either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, is so isolated.

In December, the Obama administration's top health official overruled her own drug regulators and stopped the Plan B pill from moving onto drugstore shelves next to condoms and other items. It remains available behind pharmacy counters.

Denise Bradley, a spokeswoman for Teva Pharmaceuticals, which makes Plan B, said in a statement that it sells the product only to "licensed pharmacies or other licensed healthcare clinics, which are required to follow federal guidelines for the distribution of pharmaceutical products."

On whether the machine might violate the law, "I don't have a definite yes or no," said Ron Ruman, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees the state pharmacy board. If a person younger than 17 used the machine, it "potentially could be a violation," he said.

The drug isn't covered or subsidized by the school. Its price at the vending machine is set by the school's cost to the pharmaceutical company and is less than at off-campus pharmacies. Deanne Hall, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, noted that the ease of access to such a machine could be positive for many women, but wondered whether self-treatment might deter sexual assault victims from seeking medical attention.

"This does open up a different door," she said. Rob Maher, a professor at the Duquesne University School of Pharmacy in Pittsburgh, said he had never heard of a vending machine dispensing Plan B, but noted that there have been vending machines in doctor's offices, and even a specialized machine designed to fill prescriptions.

Still, he questioned whether the machine would make it possible for a young person to buy the drug without discussing their risk factors with a health care professional. "That's the big risk with a vending machine like this," he said.

Carol Tobias, president of the anti-abortion group National Right to Life, said other services would be more appropriate. "It would be a much more productive use of funds if universities would partner with local pregnancy resource centers where students can get real help if they need it," Tobias said.

Said Anna Franzonello, counsel to Americans United For Life: "Students at Shippensburg University deserve better than to have their administration represent the potent drug with life-ending potential as no more harmful than any other vending machine item."

2 comments:

Regardless of whether one agrees or not with what the college has done, I think there's an additional, strongly motivating factor that probably influenced their decision to dispense this drug through a vending machine. Colleges, like so many of our current institutions, are cash-strapped. They're looking for any & every way possible to save money. By having a machine with this medication available, the costs of paying a doctor or even a nurse to staff the "health center" can be kept to a minimum. I would bet that when the article states, "students must check in at a lobby desk before being allowed in," it really means that they simply go up to an unmanned desk & swipe their student i.d. badge at a card reading device, which then unlocks the clinic door for them.

I graduated from a highly ranked midwestern private university, (church-affiliated by the way) in 1986. Even that long ago, the hours actual medical professionals were available in the college clinic were always minimal, even though this was an expensive school. I remember particularly a time when a strep throat virus was circulating on campus. The clinic set up a series of "stations" in its waiting room, with specific instructions and minimal items available so that students could self-diagnose their ailment. At the first station you were to take your temperature. If you had a fever you were to proceed to the next station, where you were to look into a mirror there, take a tongue depressor & a flashlight (also provided) and examine your own tonsils. Photos were posted at that booth, to provide images you could compare to your own tonsils. I felt quite sick, and was furious that I was expected to jump through these hoops just to save the school a few dollars on staffing costs. I finally went to the work-study student who was reading a text book at the clinic's reception desk. I informed her that I HAD NO TONSILS(!) and I demanded to be seen by the doctor (who was in at that time, thankfully). It was a very frustrating experience. And remember, this was 25 years ago!I would bet that financial considerations played a major role in the school's decision to dispense this drug via a vending machine. I don't condone their action, but felt that to be fair, the colege's likely motivation for cost-cutting should be mentioned.

As always, Met. Hilarion was exceedingly direct in his address to the Catholic hierarchs assembled to discuss the Church and the family. It ...

"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."